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“It couldn’t have been better,” she said. “I just adore your father, and your mother went to so much trouble to make me feel at home.”
“Have you ever slept in a four-poster before?” he asked as he took her in his arms.
“No, I haven’t,” Jessica replied, pushing him away. “And where will you be sleeping?”
“In the next room. But as you can see, there’s a connecting door, because this is where the earl’s mistress used to sleep; so I’ll be joining you later.”
“No, you won’t,” said Jessica mockingly, “although I rather like the idea of being an earl’s mistress.”
“Not a chance,” said Clive, falling to one knee. “You’re going to have to be satisfied with being Mrs. Bingham, the fish-paste princess.”
“You’re not proposing again, are you, Clive?”
“Jessica Clifton, I adore you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I hope you’ll do me the honor of becoming my wife.”
“Of course I will,” said Jessica, dropping to her knees and throwing her arms around him.
“You’re meant to hesitate and think about it for a moment.”
“I haven’t been thinking about much else for the past six months.”
“But I thought—”
“It’s never been you, silly. I couldn’t love you any more if I wanted to. It’s just that…”
“Just what?”
“When you’re an orphan, you’re bound to wonder—”
“You are so silly sometimes, Jess. I fell in love with you, and I don’t give a damn who your parents are, or were. Now let go of me, as I have a little surprise for you.”
Jessica released her fiancé, who took out a red leather box from an inside pocket. She opened it, and burst out laughing when she saw the pot of Bingham’s Fish Paste. The paste even the fishermen eat.
“Perhaps you should look inside,” he suggested.
She unscrewed the lid, and stuck a finger into the paste. “Yuck,” she said, and then pulled out an exquisite Victorian sapphire and diamond engagement ring. “Oh. I bet you won’t find one of these in every jar. It’s so beautiful,” she said after she’d licked it clean.
“It was my grandmother’s. Betsy was a local Grimsby girl who Granddad married when he was working on a fishing trawler, long before he made his fortune.”
Jessica was still staring at the ring. “It’s far too good for me.”
“Betsy wouldn’t have thought so.”
“But what about your mother? How will she feel when she sees it?”
“It was her idea,” said Clive. “So let’s go down and tell them the news.”
“Not yet,” said Jessica, taking him in her arms.
24
AFTER BREAKFAST THE following morning, Clive took his fiancée for a walk around the grounds of Mablethorpe Hall, but they could only manage the garden and the lake, before Clive’s mother whisked Jessica off to go shopping in Louth.
“Remember, every time the till rings, just think of it as another crate of fish paste,” said Clive as she climbed into the back of the car next to Priscilla.
By the time they returned to Mablethorpe Hall for a late lunch, Jessica was laden down with bags and boxes, containing two dresses, a cashmere shawl, a pair of shoes and a tiny black evening bag.
“For the dinner tonight,” Priscilla explained.
